After a tough and rocky game in Sopot, Poland, visiting Winterthur FC Barcelona managed to pull out its second win of the season by 60-65 against Prokom in Group B. Defenses never allowed neither team score easily until Barcelona jumped ahead for good starting the final quarter, when it did not allow Prokom any points for more than 5 minutes. Prokom blasted 3 straight triples that gave life to the game in the final plays, but Shammond Williams saved the win from the free throw line for Barcelona . Both teams stay now in the middle positions of the Group B table with 2-2 records. The winners were led by Williams with 24 points based on his 9 of 12 two-pointers and 9 of 13 free throws. Denis Marconato posted 14 points for Barcelona. For Prokom, Filip Dylewicz led the way with 15 points without missing a single shot. Goran Jagodnik added 11 and Istvan Nemeth had 10.
A fast pace was imposed in the first minutes of the game as the score soon soared to a 5-6 after a triple by Goran Jagodnik and Shammond Williams 4 straight points. Barcelona increased its intensity in defense and that allowed the guests to find a couple of fast buckets, including a fastbreak by Juan Carlos Navarro for 7-10. Adam Wojcik injected points to Prokom's box now, but the hosts struggled in offense and the first timeout arrived to try to fix that. The Prokom player with more minutes in the Euroleague so far, Istvan Nemeth, stepped in the court now to try to provide his team with more offensive options, but a couple of scoreless minutes went by as the score stayed in 8-12 until Michael Andersen scored a jumper from the baseline for 10-12. Barcelona looked for individual options too early but it didn't succeed until Williams found a layup cutting through the lane to leave a 12-16 after 10 minutes.
Nemeth welcomed the second quarter with a triple and disadjustments in the defense of Barcelona allowed an open bank shot by Goran Jagodnik for 18-19. In the next play the guests lost the ball and Jagodnik slammed for a Prokom 22-19 lead and a 10-1 run. Barcelona wasn't able to find any options in attack and defense wasn't working either when Filip Dylewicz hit a basket plus free throw, 24-19. Marconato finally broke the scoring drought of the guests after 5 minutes, but the Polish defense prevented Navarro from getting the ball and Nemeth drove for 32-23. But the game turned upside down as Prokom would only find difficult shots that wouldn't go in, and Williams stepped up again to score most of the points in a 3-11 run for Barcelona that closed the first half with a 35-34 score.
A 5-meter jumper by Jagodnik was joined by Wojcik's spin in the paint for a starting 39-34 to the second half. Some problems in the game clock stopped the game, but back to action Roger Grimau posted Barcelona's first triple, 39-37 after 3:30 minutes in the quarter without a point, and after three plays on each side without points, Gianluca Basile nailed another three for a new Barcelona lead, 39-40. Defenses of both sides forced turnovers and mistakes to the rival, and Williams found the net again for 39-42 in minute 28. Nemeth finally added points for Prokom with a triple but Michalis Kakiouzis replied promptly. Triples rained as Christian Dalmau hit his own to tie 45-45. It was time for fast plays now as Williams found the basket one more time to put an end to the third quarter, 45-47.
Kakiouzis appeared in the first play of the final quarter with his second straight three-pointer and the Barcelona lead soared to 45-52, when Basile scored again. Prokom was stuck at 45 points just when Marconato made the run a 1-16 slamming for a 9-point Barcelona lead, 45-54. Marconato gave the guests the first double-digit lead from the free throw line, but Tomas Pacesas finally broke Prokom's silence after 5:30 minutes into the quarter with two straight bombs from downtown for a fast 51-56. The run increased to 9-0 when Dylewicz punished Barcelona's zone defense with a new three, 54-56 with less than three minutes to go. Kakiouzis hit one free throw attempt, but Dylewicz appeared to pull Prokom within one sole point, 56-57. The game entered the last 90 seconds with a 56-59 Barcelona lead but Andersen forced Marconato's foul and missed both attempts. Williams played slow and after four passes the ball came back to him to score on the shot-clock limit, 56-61 and 33 seconds left. After a timeout, Prokom looked for Nemeth, but he missed from downtown and Williams went to the line to succeed both times, 56-63 and 15 seconds left. Andersen had time for another basket but new free throws by Williams sealed the second win for Barcelona.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Euroleague.net